Deborah Ann Woll was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After high school, Deborah joined a New York classical theater company and honed her skills studying Shakespeare. She moved to Los Angeles to make the shift from theater to television and attended the University of Southern California. In 2007, Deborah was cast in her first television role, guest starring on an episode of the police drama Life. She appeared in a string of network shows including ER, CSI, and The Mentalist. In 2008, Deborah was cast in the vampire Jessica Hamby on the HBO series True Blood.